The four battalions now gathered on the Syrian border numbered 30,000, besides the reserve of 6,000 under Ikrima.[154] In their first advance these columns met with little to oppose them. [Sidenote: Moharram, A.H. XIII. March, A.D. 634.] Abu Obeida marched through the Belcâa. The Arab settlement at Maâb[155] resisted, but, after an unsuccessful skirmish, submitted to his terms; and he then marched on to Jâbia. From the south of Palestine a Roman force advanced on the Araba below the Dead Sea; but it was easily discomfited by Yezîd, who pursued it to Dâthin, and slew the patrician in command.[156] The four divisions eventually took up ground in a sort of échelon, threatening the chief garrisons in the south of Syria. Abu Obeida, advancing towards Damascus, held a position the furthest east, near to Ikrima and the scene of the recent disaster. Next came Shorahbîl, overawing the Ghôr, or depressed valley of the Jordan and Tiberias. Yezîd in the Belcâa, threatened Bostra; and Amru, in lower Palestine, Hebron. Each of these, at last, found himself confronted by a Roman force. [Sidenote: Heraclius sends four battalions to oppose them.] Heraclius now, at last, was thoroughly aroused. It was but a few years before that he had gloriously repulsed the Chosroes; but after that he had relapsed into the inactivity of earlier years. Tidings of the invasion--a fresh irruption, as it would seem, of barbarians from the south instead of from the north--awakened him from his lethargy. Repairing to Hims, he gathered together an immense force, and sent it, in separate divisions, to stem the advancing tide. The largest of these, numbering (tradition tells us) 90,000 men, was commanded by his brother Theodoric.[157] The Moslems were alarmed at the formidable array, and they consulted how to meet it. Amru urged his brother generals to gather all into one body.--‘For how,’ he sent to say, ‘can our scanty numbers, divided and apart, encounter these mighty hosts?’ [Sidenote: The Saracen generals resolve to draw together.]To this they agreed, and Abu Bekr, who had constant tidings of their progress, was of the same mind. ‘Draw ye all together,’ was his command, ‘by the banks of the Yermûk. Ye are the Lord’s host, and shall surely put the enemy to flight. Such as you shall not be discomfited by reason of the fewness of your numbers. Tens of thousands are smitten in battle because of their sins. Wherefore, do ye eschew sin. Let every man stand close by his fellow. So shall the Lord give you the victory.’ [Sidenote: Romans and Moslems face each other at _Wacûsa_ on the Yermûk. Safar, A.H. XIII. April, A.D. 634.]